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Nuneaton Open Gala - Pingles Leisure Centre - 5-6/12/09 Story by Ann Clarkson
There were PBs galore for the Northgate posse that braved the M6 to compete in the Nuneaton Winter Open. There was also a clutch of Midland times achieved over the weekend, well in advance of the May deadline. Kim Donaldson got Midland youth times in the 200m breaststroke - which she also won - and 400IM, and achieved PBs in the 400 free and 200IM. Chrissie Jones got bronzes in the 200 breaststroke and 200IM, both of which she achieved in Midland times, and got PBs in the 200 back and 400 IM. Sister Jess also got a PB in the 200 back. Connie Sanders got her first Midland time in the 200m breaststroke and took silver in the 9 & 10 year olds 400IM, which was also a PB. Jennifer Ballinger took the bronze in the same race, one of three PBs from her three races. Emma Hudson had a busy weekend and achieved five PBs from her six races, in her first year in the very tough 11/12 year old age group. Aaran and Jack Darley flew the flag for the Northgate boys, with Jack getting a PB in the 9 year old boys' 400 free and Aaran getting one in the tough 200 fly for 11 & 12 year olds.
Midland Short Course Championships - Corby - 7-8/11/09
This years championships, held at the East Midlands International Pool at Corby, saw Northgate’s Jacob Laybourne and Kim Donaldson along with the very best of the Midlands swimmers. Jacob started well on day one with two finals out of the three races entered. Jacob won the heats of the 400 free and came second in the 200 fly heat. His 100 free didn’t earn a place in the final but it was a good PB none the less. In the finals Jacob finished 5th in the 400 free, just missing the PB time he set in the heats, then 4th in the 200 fly final. Meanwhile, Kim had just one swim on this first day of the competition and what a swim it was. Kim knocked nearly two seconds off her 100 IM best. Day two began with Jacob returning to the pool for the 200 free. He swam strongly, lowering his best by two seconds. He also awam well in the 100 fly just missing a PB and finishing 10th fastest. Kim swam later in the morning session in the 200 breast where she took over three seconds off her previous best time.
A big WELL DONE to Jacob & Kim from all your friends at Northgate.
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National Masters Championships - 23 to 25/10/09
Northgate’s David Clarke had a string of successes at this years National Masters Championships held at Sheffield’s Ponds Forge Arena. David achieved silver medals in both the 800 and 1500 free breaking the existing Midland District record in both events. The 1500 was also a PB time. He also had a silver medal in the 400 IM and three fourth places in the 400 free, 200 IM and 200 fly. In David’s last event he managed eighth place in the 200 free. Well done David!!
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National Arena Swimming League - Round 1 - 10/10/09
This years National Swimming League, now sponsored by Arena, kicked off with our first event at Derby. This division 1 fixture was always going to be tough with the top West Midlands teams taking part. Northgate, however, put on a terrific show with excellent performances from all involved. At the end of the night we finished in fourth place ahead of Ludlow, the other Shropshire team, with City of Derby victors. We can all commend the team for their fight and spirit and we look forward to more of the same in the next fixture.
Finishing points were as follows:-
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Club
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Points
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City of Derby
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262
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Calverton & Bingham
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241
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Worcester
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191
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Northgate
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161
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Ludlow
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141
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“Duel in the Pool” - Gloucester - 04/10/09
Northgate’s Jacob Laybourne is currently on the ASA Regional Talent Development Programme. Swimmers on this programme are primarily selected from the 2009 National Youth Championships that took place in July with the emphasis on skill development. Part of this programme involves swimming in an inter-regional gala called “Duel in the Pool” and this event took place on Sunday 4th October at Gloucester. Jacob was representing the West Midlands region against the South West and he performed extremely well with 3 wins out of 3 individual races – 400 freestyle, 200 fly and 100 fly. In the relays Jacob had a PB in the 4x100 freestyle and helped the team win the 4x200 freestyle relay also. At the end of the day the West Midlands team came out victors and the team spirit was very good. On Saturday 3rd October Jacob travelled to the Wirral Open meet at Birkenhead to attempt to break the British Junior record for 200 Fly. It was a great occasion for Jacob as the record attempt was announced before the race. The organisers were very excited as there had never been a record attempt in that pool before. Unfortunately he just missed out this time but watch this space as he regains his fitness.
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UK Schools Games Story by Jo Laybourne
Jacob won both of his events, 200 fly and 400 fc. He was just outside his PB on both which is fine because he hasn't trained much since the Nationals so we were both pleased. He also set a new UK school games best time for the 200 fly. Overall England Central won the swimming clearly miles ahead of England North. He is looking forward to the party tonight now at the sports village and has generally had a great time meeting up with friends from other clubs and meeting new people from other sports. All this was paid for by British Swimming and I think it is quite beneficial to the swimmer to be selected.
National Youth Championships - Sheffield - 28/07/09 to 02/08/09 Story by Jo Laybourne
Jacob was swimming in a double age group 15/16 years which is hard for him as he is still only 15 so competition was very strong and also very tall and big. Day one 28 July - swam 400 fc, came 8th in the heat with a new pb of 4.05.43 this got him into the final, where he did not quite manage his pb and finished 10th overall but was the third highest placed 15 year old in this event. Day two - 30th July - swam 200 fly in the morning finished 3rd in the heat in a new pb time of 2.06.80 and went into the final with this, this was also a new midland region long course record time (he broke his own record) he finished 10th in the final, tired after the 800 fc about two hours earlier, but was still the highest placed 15 year old with his time from the heat. Day 2 after the 200 fly heat he swam the 800 FC, finished 3rd beating all 16 year olds as 1, 2 and 3 placings were all 15, set new midlands region long course record with a new pb time of 8.29.11 (again broke his own record). Day 3 - 31st July - swam 200 fc, and finished just outside his entry time, so no pb and did not make the finals for this. Day 4 - 1st August - started with 100 Fly, did not make a pb with this just outside entry time (we won't mention the DQ) then swam 1500 fc, did not quite make his entry time finished 5th overall beaten by two sixteen year olds and two fifteen year olds. this was Jacob's best nationals since he was 11 and he is working well with D, plans for next year include working harder and making more finals and winning more medals. He is off the British Short Course Grand Prix in Leeds this weekend to swim 1500 fc.
National BAGCAT’s Championships - Sheffield - 22-26/07/09
Chrissie Jones’s first “Nationals” began with the heats of the 200 Breaststroke on Thursday (23rd). She started well and strongly fought off her contenders with a win in her heat. This swim was 1 1/2 seconds faster than her previous best and won her a well deserved place in the final in equal 6th place. The final that evening was a grand occasion and very nerve racking. Chrissie swam well, a little off her best time, and finished in 10th place. She was delighted to be the 10th fastest in Britain!! On the Saturday (25th) Chrissie was up for the 100 breaststroke. Again she swam a PB time in the heat but this time the competition was even tougher and she ended up 12th. It was a brilliant result for her first Nationals.
Midlands BAGCAT’s Weekend 1 - 06-07/06/09
Northgate swimmers made a good start at the first weekend of this years Midlands BAGCAT Championships. First off on Saturday was Becky Hawthorn who came very close to her equivalent Short Course (SC) PB in the 200 freestyle later followed by Chrissie Jones who again failed to better her SC equivalent time in the same event. These times are, however, new Long Course (LC) PB's for both of them. Next away was Jack Sanders who managed a LC PB in the 100 breaststroke. Harriet Themans completed the morning session finishing strongly in the 100 fly. Session 2 on Saturday saw Harriet taking on the Midlands on her own. She swam well in both the 200 IM and the 100 freestyle but yet again an improvement in her PB still eluded her. Aaran Darley arrived for session 3 on Saturday evening and secured a place in the final of the 200 free. Harriet, now tiring from her very long day swam well in the 200 backstoke. Aaran then came back to the pool to finish in 5th place in the 100 backstroke in a LC PB time. Chrissie, in her second swim of the day, then finished in silver position in the 100 breaststroke. The final race of the day saw Aaran swimming strongly in the final of the 200 free. Sunday morning was the 1500 freestyle and Becky again was first off finishing in a very creditable 8th place in a new PB time. Emily Dewfield swam well in this event also. The Sunday afternoon session was a quiet affair with only one Northgate swim involved. This was Chrissie in the 400 IM. Looking tired towards the end of the fly leg Chrissie didn't seem to recover on the backstroke and left too much to do on her stronger last two strokes. As a consolation, Chrissie ended the weekend in 9th place overall in her age group. All together it was a good weekend for the club, we all look forward to another exciting weekend of swimming next week.
Nottingham Open Water Championships - 17/05/09

Northgate’s Fern Cates recently competed in the 2009 Colwick Park Long Distance Open Water Championships. The event was held in Nottingham in a temperature of 13 degrees and Fern recorded a superb time of 15.24 minutes in the one kilometer race. This ranked Fern in an impressive overall eleventh place. Fern was the fifth highest female competitor who competed and she came fourth in the difficult under 16 girls age group. Fern is pictured above with her certificate to remember her superb performance.
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Midlands Youth Championships - Coventry - 2-3/05/09 This years Midlands Youth championships took place over the weekend of 2nd/3rd of May and Northgate’s swimmers had some great successes. Day 1 saw Jacob Laybourne win gold in a PB time in the 400 free then gold again in the 200 fly in a new Midlands record. Jake also had a great swim in the 100 free, narrowly missing a place in the final but getting a National Qualifying Time (NQT) at this distance for the first time in 4 years. Alice Cousins, meanwhile, won bronze in the 200 free. Kim Donaldson and Charlie Humphreys also swam well in the 100 breast/200 free and 50free/100fly respectively. Day 2 saw Jake, again in fantastic form, winning his third gold of the championships in the 800 free in a new Midlands record time. Shortly after this Alice made it a Northgate double with another 800 free gold medal. Later, in the finals, Jake won his fourth gold when he took the top spot in the 100 fly. Jake soon added a bronze medal to his collection when he competed in the 200 free final. Alice struck silver in the 400 free while Kim made the final in the 200 Breast and finished 7th overall. Charlie swam well to reach the final of the 50 fly and finished in 8th place. Jade Evans also swam well in the 100 and 400 free getting long course PB’s for both.
All in all it was a great weekend. Jake swam in 6 events, hit 6 NQT’s, 2 midland records, 4 gold medals, 1 bronze and a fantastic time in the 100 free. Alice had 4 swims, 3 NQT’s and one of each of the three medals.
We now look forward to see how the younger members get on in the BAGCAT’s in June!!
Midlands Masters Championships – Leamington Spa – 24-26/04/09
Northgate’s Dave Clarke had a “smashing” weekend at the Midland Masters Championships. Not only did Dave achieve several “seasons best” times but also came away with two gold and three silver medals as well as three county records.
Dave hit gold in the 200 fly and 400 IM. His swim in the IM was also an excellent Midlands Masters age group record by over 5 seconds. The silver medals came from the 200 IM and the 200 & 400 freestyle. Dave was up against some fast opposition in the 400 free where the first 3 home all broke the existing Masters record. Dave’s time was almost 12 seconds faster than the previous mark and since the winner of this event was from outside the Midlands region then Dave took the record. Again in the 200 free Dave finished in a faster time than the previous record.
The final event for Dave was the 100 fly where again he had a good race and finished in 4th place. Well done Dave from all at Northgate – a shining example for the younger members to follow.
Nuneaton Junior League - Round 1 - 25/04/09
The Northgate team fought hard to maintain fourth position in this tough draw.
Finishing positions were:-
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Club
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Points
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Boldmere “A”
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264
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Nuneaton & Bedworth
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242
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Leamington
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174
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Northgate
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148
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Coalville
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137
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Perry Beaches
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99
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Full results
Northgate’s 100 x 100’s - 18/04/09 Report
City of Birmingham Open Gala - Final Day -- 13/04/09
Well it has been a good weekend at Birmingham for some and the final day also had some great swims. First off was Robbie Ross and Jack Sanders in the 200m freestyle, both achieving good PB’s. Next off was Harriet Themans continuing her current fantastic form to add the 200 IM to her Midland Qualifying times. The 200 backstroke proved good for Sophie Blackstad where she achieved a good PB and Harriet gained a second MDQT of the day. Alice Cousins achieved an NQT in this event also. Robbie hit a best time in the 50 free later in the afternoon. Others performing well on this final day were Hannah Blackstad and Jade Evans who both came very close to beating their best times.
City of Birmingham deserve a big “well done” for a fantastic, well run gala.
City of Birmingham Open Gala - Day 3 -- 12/04/09
Day 3 was as eventful as the previous 2 days. Alice Cousins swam well in the 400 free getting silver in the final in a NQT time. Becky Hawthorn also swam well, narrowly missing a PB. In the 200 breast stroke Chrissie Jones swam a PB and narrowly missed her second NQT of the weekend. There was great success for the boys in the 200 IM. First Robbie Ross, swam a PB in the heats then improved it further in the final. Meanwhile Aaran Darley had a great swim achieving an MDQT for his efforts. There were also some impressive swimming by Jo Pace, Jade Evans and Jess Jones who all narrowly missed PB’s in this fiercely competitive event.
One day to go.
City of Birmingham Open Gala - Days 1 & 2 -- 10-11/04/09
Northgate has been well represented during the first 2 days of this 4 day gala. On Friday (day 1) we had Kim Donaldson swimming well in the 1500 free followed by Becky Hawthorn and Jess Jones who both knocked over half a minute off their 800 free PB’s. Day 2 saw Harriet Themans gain another Midland District Qualifying Time (MDQT) this time in the 200 free. Also in the 200 free Alice Cousins continued her terrific form that we saw in the CAG’s to achieve a National Qualifying Time (NQT) and Becky Hawthorn broke another PB. Alice had another NQT in the 100 back with Sophie Blakstad swimming well. The 100 Breast stroke saw Chrissie Jones missing her PB by 2 seconds in the heats but in the final it was a different story. Chrissie achieved her first NQT by knocking 1 second off her previous time set last month in the CAGs. The other event of day 2 was the 100 IM - this event was swam well by Hannah Blakstad, Sophie Blakstad and Kim Donaldson. Lets see what the next 2 days bring!!
Jake “Fly’s” the Flag - British Championships - Sheffield - 16/03/09
Jake Laybourne swam in the British Championships at Sheffield’s Ponds Forge on Monday 16th putting Northgate Swimming Club on the British map. He was competing against all the stars from “Team GB” in the 400 Free & 200 Fly. He performed really well considering the fierce competition and set a new long course PB in the 400 Free. . Well done Jake!!!!!
Shropshire County Championships 2009 - Weekend 1 - 28/02 & 01/03/09
What a fantastic start to this years CAG’s!! This first weekend, comprising 11 events, gave Northgate 15 golds, 19 silvers, 23 bronze’s along with an astonishing 19 Midland District Qualifying Times (MDQT’s), 5 National Qualifying Times (NQT’s), 4 new County Records (CR’s) as well as 3 Midland District Records (MDR’s).
Awards were as follows:-
Girls 100 Backstroke Gold Emily Dewfield (MDQT) Silver Lucy Turner, Jade Evans (MDQT) Bronze Georgina Jones, Harriet Themans (MDQT)
Boys 200 IM Gold Will Lewis Silver Robbie Ross, Jake Laybourne (MDQT) Bronze Matt Griffiths, Aaran Darley
Girls 200 Freestyle Gold Alice Cousins (MDQT, NQT, CR), Jade Evans (MDQT) Silver Connie Sanders, Chrissie Jones (MDQT), Charlie Humphreys Bronze Emily Dewfield, Lucy Turner, Kim Donaldson
Mixed 800 Freestyle Gold Jade Evans (MDQT), Alice Cousins (MDQT, NQT, CR, MDR), Jake Laybourne (MDQT, NQT, CR, MDR) Silver Chrissie (MDQT), Georgina, Aaran Bronze Emily Dewfield, Kim Donaldson
Boys 100 Backstroke Gold Jake (MDQT) Silver Oliver Freeman
Girls 100 Fly Silver Emily Dewfield, Charlie Humphreys (MDQT) Bronze Harriet Themans, Jade
Boys 200 Breaststroke Silver Jack Sanders Bronze Will Lewis, Matt Griffiths, Bobbie Ross, James Lyle
Girls 200 Breast Gold Ellie Hatton, Chrissie (MDQT), Kim (MDQT) Bronze Connie, Emma Hudson, Georgina, Jade
Boys 200 Fly Gold Jake (MDQT, NQT) Silver Will Lewis, Oliver Freeman Bronze Robbie
Mixed 1500 Free Gold Jade (MDQT), Jake (MDQT, NQT, CR, MDR) Silver Georgina, Aaran, Emily Dewfield (MDQT), Kim, Robbie Bronze Becky Hawthorn (MDQT), Philippa Brown, Josh Davies
A big well done to the nine year olds in their first CAG’s and also to the many swimmers not mentioned above. Everyone helps in scoring points for the club so all swims are important.
As for points - Unofficial points after this first weekend stand as:- NORTHGATE 342, OSWESTRY 253, OAKENGATES 216, LUDLOW 165, SHREWSBURY 120, WHITCHUCH 120, ELESMERE 112, WELLINGTON 106, M.DRAYTON 105, NEWPORT 22, COURT 1
Looking forward to the next one!!
Brierley Hill Open – Wolverhampton - 24th January 2009 Report by John Sanders
Northgate swimmers had another chance to improve their Personal Best times at the Open Gala hosted by Brierley Hill. The weekend meeting was held at Wolverhampton for swimmers aged 10 and over who had achieved the challenging entry times. Emily Dewfield was the first Northgate swimmer to compete. In the first race she got an impressive third place in the 10/11 year old 400m freestyle to get one of the prized glass cubes awarded for a top three finish. Emily later came an impressive second in the 200m butterfly. She also got top six finishes in the 200m freestyle and 100m backstroke races in a tremendous day’s racing which included a number of Personal Best times. Jade Evans was the first Northgate winner with her first place finish in the 12/13 year old 400m freestyle. Whilst this was not quite a PB it was comfortably inside the tough Midland District Qualifying Time. Jade got another first place in the 200m freestyle event which was again within the MDQT. She then completed an excellent day’s swimming with a seventh place in the 100m backstroke. Also swimming in the first event of the meeting was Becky Hawthorn who had a busy weekend in her 10/11 year old age group. She competed in the 200m breaststroke, individual medley and freestyle, 100m backstroke, butterfly, breaststroke and freestyle and the 50m freestyle. Becky swam strongly in her races and achieved good times and, in particular, a very good finish in her breaststroke. In the same age group Sophie Blakstad also had a number of good swims. There were finals for 100m races and Sophie got sixth place in the 100m backstroke final and had improved her time from the earlier heat. She also got a top ten finish in the 100m breaststroke and had good swims in the 200m backstroke, breaststroke and individual medley, the 100m butterfly and in the 100m and 50m freestyle races. Northgate girls’ 12/13 year old age group was well represented with Fern Cates, Georgina Jones, Harriet Themans and Megan Redshaw all competing in a number of races. Harriet Themans got a super fourth place in the 200m individual medley. She also got impressive top eight finishes in the 400m freestyle and 200m backstroke, butterfly and freestyle races. Harriet also swam strongly in the 100m breaststroke and in the 100m and 50m freestyle events. Harriet was Northgate’s representative in the 100m butterfly final. Having set a Personal Best in her heat, Harriet then did very well to beat that time to get a commendable sixth place finish in the final. Megan Redshaw also had a very good weekend of racing. She got into the 100m breaststroke final and beat her heat time by almost two seconds to get a notable fifth place finish. She also got fifth places in the 200m breaststroke and the grueling 400m individual medley. Megan also got very good top ten finishes in the 400m freestyle and 200m individual medley races and swam well in the 200m and 50m freestyle races. Fern Cates swam strongly in the 400m freestyle, the first race of the day, and swam very well in the 100m butterfly to get a Personal Best time. Georgina Jones swam strongly in the 200m individual medley event and also got a very good eleventh place in the 200m breaststroke race. Kim Donaldson had a very busy weekend of swimming. She came fifth in the heats of the 100m breaststroke to reach the final. She then beat that performance and her earlier time to get a fourth place finish in the final. In a strong all round performance Kim also got fifth in the 200m breaststroke, sixth in the 400m individual medley, eighth in the 200m individual medley, ninth in the 400m freestyle and also swam well in the 200m freestyle. Charlie Humphreys also made it to a final in the 100m butterfly. Charlie came third in the heats and in an exciting race also got third place in the final with almost exactly the same time.
Jack Sanders and Matthew Griffiths were the two Northgate boys who competed at the meeting. They faced stiff competition given both 10 year olds were swimming in the combined 10/11 age group. Jack was the first of the boys in the water and he got a commendable finish by getting eighth place out of over 30 swimmers in the 200m breaststroke. Matthew raced in a number of events over the weekend and he also swam well. He competed in the 200m breaststroke, 100m backstroke, 400m and 50m freestyle and did well to record some Personal Best times to get good finishes in close races.
Shrewsbury Masters Gala - 10th January 2009 Story By Paul Breese
The Shrewsbury Masters New Year gala proved to be an extremely successful day. Northgate swimmers achieved 19 wins (4 ladies and 15 men), 12 seconds (6 ladies and 6 men) and 15 thirds (4 ladies and 11 men). Individually, Stewart Burton won 1st and Lewis Burley 3rd overall in the 19-24 age group. Laura Bayliss won 2nd overall in the 19-24 age group and James Lyle won 2nd overall in the 25-29 age group. The 120-159 year age group (cumulative) 4X50m Medley Relay team swam brilliantly and achieved a gala record with a time of 02:03:01
Looking at the Northgate Masters at club level, this is where we can be most proud. We achieved a total of 196 points, which placed us in 5th place, out of 37 clubs. Team trophies were awarded for the 3 clubs with the highest points total after Shrewsbury Masters, so that placed us 4th. This was only 1.5 points behind 3rd, and 8 points behind 2nd – so near, yet so far.
A huge thanks to you all for taking part in this gala. I think we have put Northgate Masters on the map, and perhaps we could even take this success on to more galas.
Crystal Open Gala – Wolverhampton - 16 January 2009 Report by Dave Ballinger
Northgate's young swimmers proved they had not over-indulged over Christmas with a strong performance at the Stourbridge Crystal Open. There was a high-class entry for the event at Wolverhampton Central Baths from across the Midlands and beyond, but Northgate swimmers still came away with some of the top trophies. One of the highlights was Kim Donaldson's swim in the 200m breaststroke where she finished second and achieved a Midland Qualifying Time in a new personal best. Will Lewis led the boys challenge picking up trophies for first place in the 50m freestyle and 50m butterly, both with new personal bests. He was also second in the 100m individual medley. Jack Sanders also picked up first place for his swim in the 50m breaststroke to add to some personal bests in his earlier events. Megan Redshaw came first in the 200m breaststroke in the 13-year-old section to pick up the winner's trophy. Robbie Ross claimed the club's first trophy of the day with third place in the 12-year-olds 200m individual medley. He later took third in the 200m butterfly and was second in the 200m freestyle to round off a hectic day's swimming. Philippa Brown swam strongly to finish second in the 12-year-old 50m butterfly and 50m backstroke and was third in the 200m backstroke and fourth in the 50m freestyle. Hannah Blakstad enjoyed her first ever open with a string of personal bests proudly wearning her new 'skin' in the 9-year-old girls section while Jenny Ballinger recorded two pbs, including dipping under 40 seconds in the 50m freestyle for the first time. Connie Sanders finished a very creditable eighth in a strong 50m breaststroke field, while Maddie Berrow and Megan Bowdler arrived to bolster the squad in the afternoon session with a couple of strong swims in the same age group. Emma Hudson flew the Northgate flag in the 10-year-old age group and recorded a number of pbs. Emily Dewfield led the 11-year-old challenge with a fourth place in the 50m backstroke while Rebecca Hawthorn swam well despite still recovering from a nasty cough to record some pbs. Sophie Blakstad was undaunted by the step up in age group after her birthday just the day before and was rewarded with some top ten finishes. Jaya Ellis-Perks and Fern Cates both made a splash during the day with Fern recording pbs in the 100m and 200m freestyle while Emily-Jayne Davies battled hard in the early races but was forced to pull out feeling unwell. Tom Davenport swam hard all day in the 9-year-old boys races to record a number of pbs while Joey Ellis-Perks came off the reserves list in the 50m freestyle for a pb. Peter Bills-Brown joined the action in the afternoon session to ensure Northgate had another representative in the top ten in the 9-year-olds 50m backstroke. Thanks as ever to the poolside crew of Bethan Redshaw and Vicky Brown - the swimmers couldn't do it without you.
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